The Horror Story Unit

1
(No Transcript)
2
The Tell Tale Heart

• Questions and Answers

3
The Tell Tale Heart
Summary The narrator of the story is a renter
who gets a little excited because his land lord
has one dead eye - so he kills him and conceals
him under the floor boards of his room. The
police come looking for the old guy and have a
pleasant conversation with the narrator in his
room. The narrator however hears the beating of
his victims heart and becomes more and more
distressed until he flies into a fit, tears up
the floor boards and tears the heart out of the
corpse to show the police officers to prove to
them that it really is making a noise.
4

• 1) What does the story's title mean?
• The story's title refers to the beating heart
  that eventually
• drives the narrator to confess his crime. The
  reader is led
• to believe it is the beating of the old man's
  heart he hears,
• an impossibility, considering the old man has
  been murdered
• and dismembered, leaving three possibilities
• (1) the narrator is insane (2) the narrator
  feels guilt over the crime and hears his own
  heart (3) both.

5

• 2) The narrator claims he is not mad. What
  evidence do we have that he is?
• (1) He murders an old man because of his "vulture
  eye"
• (2) He hears sounds from hell
• (3) He dismembers the dead man's corpse
• (4) He hears the beating of a dead man's heart
• (5) He is paranoid
• (6) He is "nervous--very, very dreadfully
  nervous."

6

• 3) What does the narrator do with the dead man's
  body?
• The narrator dismembers the body and carefully
  places it
• under a few floor boards in the old man's room.
  He's
• confident that his crime will not be discovered,
  even
• inviting the investigator to sit on a chair
  directly above the
• dead body.

7

• 4) Why does the narrator want to kill the old
  man?
• "Object there was none. Passion there was none. I
  loved
• the old man. He had never wronged me. He had
  never given
• me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think
  it was his
• eye! yes, it was this!" (172).

8

• 5) The narrator visits the old man's bedroom
  every night for seven nights before killing him
  on the eighth night. What finally causes him to
  commit the act?
• He hears the old man's heart. The narrator says,
  "It was the beating
• of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as
  the beating of a drum
• stimulates the soldier into rage...the hellish
  tattoo of the heart increased.
• It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and
  louder every instant...I thought
• the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety
  seized methe sound would
• be heard by a neighbor! The old man's hour had
  come!" (174-5).

9

• 6) What sort of disease does the narrator claim
  to have and what has it done for the narrator's
  senses?
• The narrator claims to have a disease that makes
  his senses really powerful.
• It has sharpened them. "The madness had sharpened
  my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above
  all was the sense of hearing acute..."

10

• 7) What is the narrator's strongest sense and
  what does it allow him to do?
• The narrator's strongest sense is his sense of
• hearing, and it allows him to hear everything
• that is going on everywhere, including "earth,"
• "heaven," and especially "hell."

11

• 8) What argument does the narrator present as to
  why he is not insane?
• The narrator claims that insane people have no
• knowledge or skill, but he has planned everything
  
• out very carefully.

12

• 9) What was the reason why the narrator killed
  the old man?
• "I think it was his eye--yes it was this! One of
• his eyes resembled that of a vulture- a pale
• blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it ran
• upon me my blood ran cold...."

13

• 10) During the week before the narrator killed
  the old man, how did he act towards him?
• He was very kind "I was never kinder to the old
• man than during the whole week before I killed
• him."

14

• 11) How long did it take the narrator to place
  his head into the door so that he could see the
  old man?
• An hour "It took me an hour to place my whole
• head within the opening so far that I could see
• him as he lay upon his bed."

15

• 12) For how many nights did the narrator look in
  upon the old man?
• Eight nights "...and I did this for seven long
• nights--every night just at midnight-every night
• just at twelve...Upon the eighth night I was
• more than usually cautious in opening the door."

16

• 13) Why couldn't the narrator kill the old man on
  the first night?
• The eye was closed "...but I found the eye
• always closed and so it was impossible to do the
  
• work for it was not the old man who vexed me,
• but his Evil Eye."

17

• 14) What did the narrator do by accident which
  awakened the old man?
• His thumb slipped on the lantern. The narrator
• quietly laughed at the thought that the old man
• didn't have any idea about what he was up to,
• but this did not wake the old man up. It was
• when the narrator's thumb slipped on the tin
• fastening of the lantern that he woke the old
• man up.

18

• 15) What causes the narrator to finally jump on
  the old man?
• He can hear the old man's heart beating, and at
• some point he feels it is so loud that is may
• wake someone up, so he jumps on the man to
• stop the noise.

19

• 16) What did the old man cry out when awakened?
• "Who's there?" "I kept quite still and said
• nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a
• muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him
• lie down."

20

• 17) What was the low, dull, quick sound that the
  narrator heard?
• The old man's heartbeat "I knew THAT sound
• well too. It was the beating of the old man's
• heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a
• drum stimulates the soldier into courage."

21

• 18) The beating grew louder--what was the new
  anxiety that seized the narrator at this point?
• The sound being heard by neighbors "...the old
• man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw
• open the lantern and leaped into the room."

22

• 19) After the old man was dead, what was the
  first thing the narrator did to conceal the body?
  
• He dismembered it "I cut off the head and the
• arms and the legs."

23

• 20) What was the next thing he did to conceal the
  body?
• He buried it beneath the floor.

24

• 21) Why were the police sent to the house?
• A neighbour had heard the old man shriek and
• suspected foul play. The police were called to
• investigate it.

25

• 22) What was it that made the narrator confess to
  the crime?
• The old man's heartbeat. It can be theorized that
  the
• guilt of the narrator was ultimately what made
  the narrator
• confess. The narrator hears a sound and swears
  that the
• sound was NOT his own. He insists that the
  heartbeat
• belonged to the old man, and could not figure out
  why the
• police officers couldn't hear it as well. We know
  that the
• heartbeat was the narrators, but we are viewing
  this from
• the standpoint of the narrator, not our own
  rational minds.

26

• 23) How does Poe create tension and suspense in
  the story?
• He describes second by second the process that
• the narrator went through for seven nights and
• the night of the killing. Also, the state of the
• narrators mind leaves the reader to wonder what
• is going to happen, is he going to get caught,
• and how.

27

• Pacing - the narrator describes the murder over
  several pages.
• Foreshadowing - "I was never kinder to the old
  man than during the whole week before I killed
  him." (172).
• Dangerous Action - the narrator invites the
  police officer to sit directly above the dead
  body.

28

• 24) What wise actions of the narrator ensured
  that no one would detect anything was wrong?
• He dismembered the body in some sort of tub to
• catch the blood. He buried the body parts in the
• floor boards, so they wouldnt be found. He
• carefully replaced the floorboards so no one
• would notice.

29

• 25) What are some examples of imagery used by Poe
  in the story? (How Poe allows the reader to
  either see, hear, smell, taste, or touch/feel
  something)
• He groans a groan of mortal terror.
• came to my ears a low, dull, quick, sound, such
  as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.
• all a dull blue with a hideous veil over it
  that chilled the very marrow in my bones

30

• 26) Find additional examples of figurative
  language in the story. (Simile, Alliteration,
  Repetition)
• Alliteration He groans a groan of mortal
  terror
• Repetition much such a sound as a watch makes
  when enveloped in cotton

31

• 27) The two controlling symbols in the story are
  the eye and the heart. What might these two
  symbols represent?
• The old man's eye is "pale blue, with a film over
  it,
• indicating a lack of visual clarity and
  reliability. In this
• sense the eye symbolizes the narrator in so much
  that all
• the information we receive comes through his
  distorted
• mind, much in the same way everything the old man
  sees is
• filtered through his distorted eye.

32

• Furthermore, the story is told through the
  narrators
• perspective, who claims his actions are on
  account of the
• distorted eye, which suggests the point of view
  is literally
• and symbolically filtered through the old mans
  eye.
• Traditionally the heart symbolizes the emotional
  centre of the individual. In The Tell Tale Heart,
  it symbolizes the narrators guilt.

33

• 28) Plot Create a timeline of events as they
  occur in the story.
• The police come to question the narrator
• The narrator kills the old man
• The narrator speaks extra kindly to the old man
• The narrator becomes obsessed with the old mans
  eye
• The narrator tears up the floorboards and admits
  to killing the old man
• The narrator buries the old man in the
  floorboards
• The narrator brags about his sagacity in planning
  
• The narrators thumb slips on the lanterns latch
  
• The narrator hears the beating of a heart (will
  be on the timeline twice)
• A neighbor reports hearing a shriek

34
(No Transcript)
35
A Tell Tale Heart

• Notes

36
Title

• It means "giving information (often which a
  person would not wish to be known) Example the
  telltale signs of guilt.

37
Plot

• Classic example of Freitags Pyramid

38
Point of view

• -Gothic horror story, told in 1st person point of
  view, dramatic monologue from the perspective of
  a man who has committed a crime.
• -This story would be completely different if told
  from 3rd person point of view or from the point
  of view of one of the police officers.

39
Narrator

• -The biggest effect of Poe's decision to let his
  readers into the mind of the killer in his story
  is that it creates a nervous, creepy mood.

40
Title

• It means "giving information (often which a
  person would not wish to be known) Example the
  telltale signs of guilt.

41
(No Transcript)